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Griswold v. State of Connecticut Turns 50
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Griswold v. State of Connecticut Turns 50

Landmark U.S. Supreme Court case affirming the right of married couples to use birth control turns 50.
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On June 7, 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Griswold v. State of Connecticut affirmed the constitutional right of married persons to use birth control.

At the time, Connecticut state law deemed it illegal for a person to use any drugs or devices to prevent conception, and it was also illegal for anyone to assist, abet, counsel, cause, or command another person to do so. The case had initially resulted in the defendants’ conviction as accessories by providing contraception information and prescriptions for contraception to married couples. The Supreme Court overturned that decision and ruled Connecticut’s birth-control law unconstitutional based on rights set down in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments that protect an individual’s home and private life from interference by the government.

The case is considered a landmark decision in advancing the right to birth control in the U.S., along with Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Governor of Pennsylvania.

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